Zulu Rema: the amputee breakdancer from Tunisia – in pictures

Zulu Rema: the amputee breakdancer from Tunisia – in pictures

Street photographer Yassine Alaoui Ismaili follows 16-year-old Emeer Guesmi, aka B-boy Zulu Rema, as he trains and performs breakdance moves – all without the use of his legs

Main image:
Zulu Rema in full action during the battle.
Photograph: Yassine Alaoui Ismaili

Tue 22 Nov 2016 02.00 EST
Last modified on Wed 31 May 2017 18.01 EDT

At a breakdance championship in Tunisia, Casablanca-based street photographer
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili noticed an unusual competitor: Emeer Guesmi, dancing without the aid of his lower legs. He started following him as he trained and performed. All photographs: Yassine Alaoui Ismaili

Guesmi in his self-decorated bedroom. After his accident,
he told writer Tebourski Hosn: ‘I was doing nothing all the time and I couldn’t bear it so I decided to join a football team but it didn’t go well – in fact, I wasn’t really welcomed – so I quit’

‘Then one day, one of my friends – whom I miss so much, RIP – watched me walking on my hands at home, and suggested that I join the dance workshops of our city’s cultural center in Hamem Zriba. I did, but I faced rejection for the second time, so I quit. But my friend was really supportive and we didn’t give up’

‘I want to see more dancers sharing their passion whether it is about hip-hop dance, music or graffiti art,’ he says. ‘Express yourself – let people know more about what you do, and about hip-hop culture’